South By Web Celeb Fest Is Wearing Thin

South By Southwest Interactive wrapped up on Tuesday, and there’s mixed opinion on the conference’s enduring value.
Jolie O’Dell, who just announced she is leaving her job at Read Write Web, says SXSW sucks and she won’t be going back for more.

This year, I spent most of my time trying to avoid being harassed, maligned, groped, ogled and threatened by the masses of people – I’m hearing 40% more than last year – who are holding badges. This show isn’t fun, and I won’t be coming back.
My greatest concern at the outset was the relative lack of truly technical content. I haven’t even seen that many startups here this year, and even fewer developers. And non-technical people aren’t here to learn; they’re here for self-congratulation and mutual masturbation. People I’ve never heard of are referring to themselves as Twitter celebrities and generally making me ill.

I love it when people speak their minds and say the things that need to be said. SouthBy is a cluster fuck. And when there are too many people in one space, human nature is such that a “rats in a cage” mentality takes hold. Obviously, we’re not at our best in these instances.
Steve Hall of Adrants has an entirely different take on the subject.

In other words, there’s no need to sweat a five day party with A-listers. It’s all good, and Hall’s got photographic evidence of this fact. Lots of it.
But clearly, thousands of people spend thousands of dollars to be in Austin so they can learn to do their jobs better. That is the nature of a conference. The socializing is icing, not the cake.Jay Baer says “SXSW needs a much better vetting process if it’s going to retain even a modicum of educational value.” And O’Dell mentioned in her post that she was upset she that she couldn’t find any bloggable content. When there’s no there there, SXSW becomes an adult version of Spring Break, and that’s kind of hard to justify to one’s bosses and/or accountant.
For yet another take, here’s what two students from Wharton think:

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Co-founder and editor of AdPulp. I wrote my first ad for a political candidate when I was 17 years old. She won her race and I felt the seductive power of advertising for the first time. I worked for seven agencies in five states before launching my own practice in 2009. Today, I am head of brand strategy and creative at Bonehook in Portland, Oregon.

@Hugh – Somehow I don’t see SXSW in the same camp as the PC, when it comes to cultural transformation. But I am willing to concede that SouthBy is damn good time and a great networking opportunity. However, the last truly great panel I attended there was in 2003.

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